Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYC 911 dispatchers strike deal including bonuses, shorter work weeks
By
Samantha Max
Published Jan 23, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Mark Peterson/Corbis via Getty Images
By
Samantha Max
Published Jan 23, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
New York City’s 911 operators are getting a pay raise and more flexible work schedules following years of reporting low morale and rampant absenteeism, the mayor’s office announced Monday.
As part of a new labor agreement, the city will test out three- or four-day work weeks for all 911 operators and supervisors, city officials said. This will allow dispatchers to work fewer, but longer days, not including overtime. Some 911 operators have already been working so-called “compressed” schedules through a smaller pilot program.
Dispatchers will also be eligible for two $5,000 bonuses per year if they regularly show up to work — a perk the mayor’s office said is aimed at boosting recruitment, retention and attendance, according to the mayor’s announcement.
“When New Yorkers are in crisis, our 911 operators are the first of our first responders to support their fellow New Yorkers,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement announcing the labor deal. “And as we work to ensure New York City remains the safest big city in America, it is essential that these workers are paid fairly with good benefits.”
Gothamist reported last year on widespread burnout among 911 operators, who said they were struggling to manage long days on top of their already stressful and emotionally intense work. Several dispatchers and union representatives said the NYPD was routinely forcing operators to work back-to-back shifts, which they said was draining morale and contributing to staffing shortages.
The complaints were not new. In 2019, the city settled a federal class-action lawsuit with dispatchers who said the police department was violating their contract by regularly mandating that they work overtime and retaliating against employees who took sick days or paid leave.
A recent pay study by the dispatchers’ union also found that New York City 911 operators are paid less than dispatchers in other departments. The starting salary is $42,976. The top pay for supervisors before the new agreement was $74,948.
The salary range for dispatchers in Chicago, according to the pay study, was between $57,000 and $87,000. In Boston and Los Angeles, dispatchers start at about $55,000 and can earn up to approximately $100,000.
New York City has agreed to boost supervisors’ annual pay by 14% and increase the amount of salaried hours they work each week, from 35 to 40 hours.
Union steward Arisleyda Estrella-Skinner called the new agreement a “victory.”
“This essential job takes a toll on you — so when we have members working 16-hour days, two, three, even five days in a row, we knew something had to change,” she said in a statement. “That's why we, as unionized members of DC37 and Local 1549, fought to ensure we could perform our jobs while still having adequate time to rest and recover from the long and taxing hours of responding to our city's emergencies.”
Tagged
new york city
public safety
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .